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Shooting In Minnesota Bar Leaves One Dead, 14 Wounded

Posted on by kmurali@biometrica.com

By a Biometrica staffer

A shootout at a bar in St. Paul, Minnesota, early on Sunday, Oct. 10, left one woman dead and 14 other people wounded, AP News reported. Three men are said to be in custody after the shooting. The men were also being treated at a hospital for injuries from the shooting.

WCCO learned that at the time of the incident one of the alleged shooters had an active warrant for his arrest, according to a report by CBS Minnesota. According to documents, he failed to show up for a sentencing hearing in May. Additionally, two more gunmen are allegedly convicted felons with lengthy criminal histories.

The shooting happened shortly after midnight at the Seventh Street Truck Park bar, when dozens of gunshots are said to have erupted. The bar is in an entertainment district south of the Xcel Energy Center, where the NHL’s Minnesota Wilds play. 

Police said preliminary information indicated that several people fired gunshots. All three men who are in custody will be booked into the Ramsey County jail once they are discharged, the St. Paul Police Department said in a statement on Twitter. They have not yet been charged.

A person close to the woman who died identified her as Marquisha Wiley, and described her as a “magnetic” young woman who was “bright, joyful and supportive,” according to the CBS Minnesota report.

The woman in her 20s who was killed is the 32nd homicide victim in the city so far this year, the Star Tribune reported. All of the other people who were shot are expected to survive, police said in a statement.

The shooting cannot be classified as a mass shooting incident per the Gun Violence Archive (GVA), but it is another example of the recent rise in violent crime, especially those involving firearms. For instance, last month, on Thursday, Sept. 23, a gunman opened fire in an upscale Kroger grocery store in Collierville, a suburban community about 30 miles east of Memphis, Tennessee, killing one person and wounding as many as 12 others.

Just last week, a nursing assistant shot and killed a coworker inside Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia before fleeing in a U-Haul and being shot in a subsequent exchange of gunfire with police that wounded two officers. In the aftermath of the fatal shooting, the hospital is said to be in the process of making security changes as it continues to analyze its procedures.

In Chicago, the rise in violent crime has also boiled over, drawing concern from business leaders.

The GVA defines a mass shooting as one where four or more people are killed, excluding the shooter. The GVA documents every reported incident of gun violence in the United States, collecting this information from more than 7,500 law enforcement, media, government and commercial sources daily, in an effort to provide near-real time data about the results of gun violence.

Tackling The ‘Rape Kit Backlog’

Posted on by kmurali@biometrica.com

By Aara Ramesh

In August, police in Dallas, Texas, arrested former dentist David Thomas Hawkins, 75, for an aggravated sexual assault — that happened nearly four decades ago. In 1985, Hawkins had raped at gunpoint Carrie Krejci, and since then had successfully eluded authorities. It was only this year that police were able to identify Hawkins, thanks to  the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s (BJA) Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI).

SAKI is a grant program that the BJA established in 2015 as a way to tackle the growing number of sexual assault kits in law enforcement custody that hadn’t been submitted for analysis, and — in doing so — give victims some measure of resolution. This is also known, colloquially, as the “rape kit backlog.” The program is administered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Violent Criminal Apprehension (ViCAP) Program.

The funding is used for a number of purposes, including to:

  • inventory the existing numbers of unsubmitted SAKs
  • test these kits
  • assign personnel to pursue new investigative leads and prosecutions in these cases
  • assign personnel to support victims throughout the investigation and prosecution process
  • develop evidence-tracking systems
  • train law enforcement on sexual assault investigations
  • conduct research on outcomes in sexual assault cases
  • increase collection of offender DNA for CODIS upload purposes so as to better identify serious and serial sex offenders.

SAKI partners include nonprofits that specialize in forensic sciences in the context of the criminal justice system; combating human and sex trafficking; handling domestic and sexual violence cases; victim and family advocacy in violent crime situations; child abuse; etc. It also partners with university research teams, healthcare professionals, psychology experts, and the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

In describing why it is crucial for these kits to be tested, the FBI says that “many of these kits contain a definitive (and in some cases, the only) piece of evidence linking an offender to a victim—DNA.” The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), the nation’s leading anti-sexual-assault organization and an official partner picked by the Justice Department to provide technical assistance and support to SAKI grantees, says that DNA evidence has “become a critical factor in achieving justice for survivors of sexual violence,” and that the “overwhelming backlog of DNA evidence is currently one of the biggest obstacles to prosecuting perpetrators of sexual violence.” It is estimated that testing DNA evidence may “help solve anywhere from 30 to 50 percent of these backlogged cases.”

In addition, per the BJA, around 60% of sexual assault offenders can be linked to multiple other crimes, with many of these cases having around 10–20 other crimes linked to them. Solving these crimes and apprehending those responsible for perpetrating them, then, becomes imperative to removing a serial offender with multiple victims from the streets.

In the Dallas case, for instance, Hawkins eventually admitted to raping at least 30 other women in the area between 1982 and 1985. Just through testing Krejci’s kit and then following up on the investigation, law enforcement were able to bring some measure of peace and closure to 31 women.

Currently, there is no federal or central database tracking the total number of untested and unsubmitted SAKs, but estimates range from at least 100,000 to as high as 225,000. This might just be a conservative estimate in itself, however, since at least 15 states and many large cities are yet to even count the exact number of untested rape kits that they have. 

When it comes to why there is such a large backlog, the reasons are complicated and extensive, often boiling down simply to individual attitudes or biases. According to the SAKI website, other factors include:

  • Poor evidence tracking
  • Outdated and ineffective investigation practices
  • Lack of resources and personnel
  • Misunderstanding of crime lab case acceptance policies
  • Lack of understanding among law enforcement personnel about the value of testing SAKs.
  • Lack of policies and protocols for rape kit testing

Though DNA evidence has been admissible and has been used in court cases for several decades now, the backlog in untested kits was largely unknown until very recently. Since the 2015 establishment of SAKI by then-president Barack Obama’s administration, however, significant progress has been made.

SAKI has disbursed more than $200 million in grants to local, state, and Tribal law enforcement agencies across the country. Currently, there are about 70 active SAKI grants across 44 states. Reports are submitted by local agencies on a quarterly basis, meaning the data is not available on a real-time basis. However, the latest analysis, as of June 2021, shows that at least 1159 convictions (including plea agreements) have come out of the 81,563 kits that were sent for testing nationwide over the last six years.

Image source: SAKI Performance Metrics & Research

Over this same period, Dallas County has received over $5.3 million in funding from SAKI, through which they were able to hire two investigators, victim advocates, and prosecutors each solely for handling cold case homicides and sexual assaults. These moves led directly to Hawkins’ arrest and to him eventually receiving, in September, four life sentences in prison.

Some highlights of the statistics elaborated above are as follows:

  • More than 60 sexual assault offenders have been convicted in Wayne County, Michigan
  • A serial rapist was linked to 7 cases in Cuyahoga County, Ohio
  • Metro Police found 43 CODIS hits on cases and have arrested 8 offenders in Las Vegas, Nevada
  • Montana has received funding to establish a task force to count the number of unsubmitted SAKs in the state’s possession, finding around 1,400 to send for testing.

The goal of SAKI, according to officials, is twofold. On one hand, it is to chip away steadily at the built-up backlog. On the other, it is to ensure that such an extreme “accumulation of unsubmitted kits” never happens again. In addition to bringing rapists to justice, the program is also designed to help victims recover and heal by giving them some sort of resolution to their trauma, even if it comes later than anticipated.

As then-Vice President Joe Biden, a champion of SAKI, said, “Rape kits are an essential tool in modern crime fighting — not only for the victim, but for the entire community. When we solve these cases, we get rapists off the streets. For most survivors, seeing their rapists brought to justice, and knowing that they will not return, brings peace of mind and a sense of closure.”

How You Can Help Prevent Your Young Child From Buying Drugs Online

Posted on by kmurali@biometrica.com

By a Biometrica staffer

A few months ago, Reuters News analyzed data from the National Emergency Medical Services Information System, which represents almost 90% of all emergency responses in the U.S., and found that during the pandemic, “the rate of drug-related 911 calls for young people aged 20 and under increased by 43%.” This seemed to only scientifically confirm a trend that many healthcare professionals and parents have noticed in children over the last several years.

Teens buying drugs online is not a new or recent phenomenon. Rather, it has existed since the advent of the internet age, first, and later with social media, but has definitely been exacerbated by the pandemic. On one hand, existing factors noted to direct teens towards drug use (like early life stress, social isolation, and boredom) reached new heights. On the other hand, as schooling was pushed online, more children have been spending more hours online, multiplying the opportunities to trade drugs and interact with people who will sell them drugs, and even deliver them directly to doorsteps in some cases.

Also not fresh news is the fact that teens may gravitate towards drug use. For one, they are exploring and learning more about themselves and what it means to be an adult. They also are undergoing neurological change and development, and are, thus, more likely to engage in risky behavior, testing boundaries, and experimenting with new things. It is important to remember that this, according to experts, is normal at that age.

There are, however, other factors that may enhance the propensity to indulge in drugs, the government’s Get Smart About Drugs website says. This can be as banal as boredom, curiosity, or a desire to “feel good” and relax. They may also be inured to the riskiness of doing drugs, thinking it to not be that big a deal. On the other end of the spectrum, there are many teens dealing with mental and emotional issues who may be looking for a way to “numb” the pain.

With social media playing such a huge factor, kids are more likely to have self-esteem issues earlier in their life, meaning that they could see drug or alcohol use as a way to fit in, or they may even cave to peer pressure. 

One important factor to keep in mind is that it is not just illegal drugs being bought and sold online. Increasingly, the drugs of choice are medicines and painkillers legal with a prescription, like Percocet, OxyContin, or Xanax. Increasingly, pills are being traded on social media platforms like Snapchat, as reported recently by NBC News.

The most popular online avenue for drug transactions, however, remains the dark web. On a basic level, parents are not always fully aware of what their children are doing online. To add to this problem, the built-in anonymity of the dark web makes it difficult for law enforcement to crack down. And, to compound the problem further, such trades are nowadays being executed through cryptocurrency, which are widely available and by nature unregulated by the government.

Legitimate versions of these meds can be fished out of parents’ medicine cabinets or bought from friends at school or parties. What is worrying is that there has been a recent rise in the number of counterfeit or fake pills available in the market, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) says. These drugs are produced by criminal drug networks who try to pass them off as authentic to the public. Teens may be particularly susceptible to these tricks.

The DEA says it is seizing such pills at “record rates.” In fact, the number of counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl seized by the DEA have shot up a whopping 430% since 2019. Further, two of every five pills that contain fentanyl have levels of that drug that are potentially lethal. Just a few days ago, the Justice Department said a two-month operation had resulted in the arrests of more than 800 people and the seizure of 1.8 million counterfeit pills laced with enough fentanyl to kill 700,000 people. 

Fentanyl, of course, is quickly becoming the drug of choice for criminals. IT is easy to produce, highly profitable, and easy to smuggle as well. As the New York Times put it, “enough fentanyl to get nearly 50,000 people high can fit in a standard first-class envelope.”

What Can You Do?

There is no doubt that the preferred outcome by all parties involved would be for young people and teenagers not to consume drugs. But in the absence of a 100% foolproof method for ensuring that, the next best solution is to ensure that if they do experiment with drugs, they do not do so with counterfeit product or product cut with a deadlier substance that would greatly increase their risk of fatally overdosing.

Various sources list out a few easy tips for parents to take to mitigate the chance of their teens experimenting with drugs:

  • Keep the communication lines open. Don’t only seek out closeness with your child when you’re worried something is wrong. Make sure you know about their interests, friends, etc.
  • Keep an eye out for any changes in behavior that might indicate they are using drugs. This can include just a feeling they’re acting odd or not “right”; if they are suddenly unusually angry, depressed, quiet, or withdrawn; unusual sleeping patterns; and them seeming to suddenly have a lack of interest in things they used to enjoy. Physical signs can include sudden weight loss, bloodshot or watery eyes, and shakes or tremors.
  • Make sure your teen knows the consequences. Because drugs can be so readily available online, kids may believe that they aren’t really that dangerous. It is important to impress upon them the effects of long-term drug addictions and how deadly substances like fentanyl are.
  • Emphasize the dangers of buying from strangers or an unknown source at all (due to potential contamination or counterfeit product) as well as how deadly it can be to mix drugs together.
  • Remind your teen about the legal implications of being caught in any kind of drug use or transaction. They may be held accountable and be punished if someone else is caught or if they are in any way associated with someone else’s accidental overdose.

These are more preventative methods. If a parent suspects their teen is already involved in drug use, there are other tips that may work, in addition to having an honest conversation:

  • Move the computer into common spaces, so that web use can be monitored and checked. Make sure the teen knows why this is being done.
  • As a secondary resort, check the teen’s search and browsing history on the computer and phone.
  • Parents can also choose to install on their children’s devices “Parental-Control and Monitoring Apps,” or can implement Parental Locks on various apps and devices.
  • Monitor delivered packages for any that may be unmarked or attempting to be discreet. As a first step, experts suggest asking the teen about the package, though it may be necessary to “stick around when they are opening the package.”

Experts point out that the conversations and steps outlined before might be uncomfortable for both the parent and the child. There may be anger and hurt involved on both sides, but it is important for the parent to stress that any such action is coming from a place of worry and love. Parents should also be prepared for an accusation that they are spying on their kid or don’t trust them — which, experts say, is technically true.

On the whole, the best method that government and adolescent psychology experts seem to agree on is forming a strong and open interpersonal relationship with your child, so that they feel safe to approach you when they are in trouble and so you can talk frankly about potential issues. This can also enhance their internal self-worth, which makes them less likely to cave to peer pressure when it comes to substance abuse.

The best preventative, proactive, and protective measure is for children to know they can expect honesty from their parents, and for them to feel loved and trusted. As a result, they may be more likely to confide in parents and seek out and take their advice when needed.

This type of healthy emotional and mental wellbeing, experts say, could put them in an emotionally stable place, such that they reject drugs when offered to them.

You can find pictures that compare authentic and counterfeit versions of many drugs here.

Prison Staff Death Toll Spiked In Texas After Covid-19 Protocols Were Relaxed

Posted on by kmurali@biometrica.com

By a Biometrica staffer

September became the deadliest month for employees of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice since the Covid-19 pandemic began, even as coronavirus fatalities dropped across the state, a Dallas Morning News report said. Covid-19 led to the death of at least 13 staff members last month.

Among those who succumbed to the virus were one correctional officer who was planning a wedding, and another who had retired and then returned to work in his early 60s. The oldest victim among the prison staff was nearly 80 years old, the Dallas Morning News report added.

Since March 2020, more than 14,000 prison staff members —  about half the workforce — have caught the virus. Currently, nearly 600 are infected.

Overcrowding, old infrastructure in prisons, and inadequate social distancing behind bars have made jails and prisons a hotbed for Covid-19, per one report. But prisons in other states kept strict safety protocols in place to stem the spread of the virus, even doubling down on mask and vaccine mandates as the highly contagious delta variant ravaged the country. Texas, however, had either relaxed or rejected many of those precautions.

Vaccine mandates are banned in the state. Texas also no longer requires masks at nearly one-quarter of its state-run jails and prisons. These decisions, public health and prison policy experts say, are worrisome and reveal that the uptick in staff deaths could be a trend with no end in sight — one they say the state acknowledges is a problem but is doing little to stop.

Governor Greg Abbott allowed jails to be among the few places that were able to require masks, which the prisons department did for more than a year. But he didn’t exempt state prisons from his ban on vaccine mandates. That meant prison staff could refuse vaccinations, and many have.

At the end of September, less than half of prison employees had been fully vaccinated, compared to 57% of inmates, according to the prisons department. Both are below the statewide vaccination rate of 62% of Texans over the age of 12.

On July 1, as the delta variant spread across Texas, the prisons department dropped its mask mandate at units that reached a combined vaccination rate of 70% for prison staff and inmates, the Dallas Morning News report says. Visitors, who were welcomed back into state-run jails and prisons, also were no longer required to wear masks in units that met the goal. Currently, 22 state-run jails and prisons no longer require masks.

How DNA Testing Made Its Way Into The Legal System

Posted on by kmurali@biometrica.com

By a Biometrica staffer

Well over 700 years ago, Song Ci, a Chinese judge, is said to have personally examined the crime scenes of physical assaults or difficult murders. His book, The Washing Away of Wrongs, was written around the year 1247 and became what is recognized today as the oldest existing text on forensic science. His manual, meant to help bureaucrats navigate the complex process of judicial inquiry, is said to predate the earliest European texts by hundreds of years. The book explains how to determine which wound was the cause of death, distinguish between ante-mortem and post-mortem injuries, and differentiate between accidental deaths and homicides.

What’s more fascinating is that China had already been conducting forensic assessments for violent or suspicious deaths for centuries before Song Ci’s book was published in the mid-13th century. Bureaucrats — and not full-time detectives or forensic scientists, as is the norm today — were responsible for leading inquests as a small part of their duties. Regardless, it establishes the fact that forensic science was used in criminal investigations and the justice system even in medieval times.

Still, the use of one forensic tool has been a subject of much debate within the US: DNA testing. In this piece, we tell you in brief how that tool made its way into the country’s legal and criminal justice system.

But what exactly is DNA analysis or testing? In simple words, DNA testing or profiling can be used to identify individuals on the basis of their unique genetic makeup. Multiple people may share physical similarities, from eye and hair color to facial features, but they won’t have the same DNA. This is what makes it a useful tool when it comes to solving crimes.

Those who are not wholly in support of using DNA have claimed that it is an unreliable tool that can lead to the wrongful conviction of innocent people. Law enforcement agencies and prosecutors, on the other hand, are eager to use the benefits of DNA evidence to help combat crime. Ultimately, since it was first made admissible as evidence in courts in the US in the 1980s, it’s now become a valuable tool, particularly since biological material (skin, hair, blood, and other bodily fluids) has emerged as the most reliable physical evidence at crime scenes.

This whole journey started in the second half of the 1980s. Throughout the year 1986, police in Orlando, Florida suspected that one man was involved in over 20 cases of prowling, breaking and entering, and attempted sexual assault, per a publication by Princeton University, titled “DNA as Evidence.” In each case, the modus operandi was similar: the man would stalk his victim for weeks, prowling around her house and peeping through windows. When attacked, the victim had little or no opportunity to make a visual identification.

Until Tommie Lee Andrews was arrested, the only thing police had to go on were composite drawings and several calls about a prowler. After his arrest, one rape victim managed to pick Andrews out of a photo lineup despite only having seen him for all of six seconds. It was only after the prosecutor in the case, Jeffrey Ashton, read an advertisement in a legal publication about DNA testing that he discovered it could be used and, thus, he employed the services of Lifecodes Corp. for that purpose. That’s when Hal Uhrig, who was appointed Andrews’ defense attorney, realized that he was involved in the first known DNA criminal case in the US, the DNA as Evidence publication says.

DNA test results were introduced at Andrews’ very first trial by prosecutors, only to have the introduction of any testimony regarding the statistical probabilities resulting from the test successfully challenged by the defense. The trial ended in a hung jury. But DNA evidence was, once again, introduced at the retrial. This time, the prosecution was prepared to argue that statistical probabilities relating to the test should be introduced.

The court used a relevancy standard similar to that in the Federal Rules of Evidence, which governs the introduction of evidence at civil and criminal trials in the U.S. federal trial courts, and admitted the statistical data. Andrews was subsequently convicted.

Since then, DNA testing and evidence has been used in several other cases. The very year after Andrews’ trial, for instance, it was used to sentence a Virginia killer known as the “South Side Strangler” after DNA linked him to several rapes and murders around Richmond, says a Time Magazine article. It is also responsible for snaring Gary Ridgway, the infamous “Green River Killer” of Washington State, responsible for a string of murders around Seattle in the 1980s and ’90s. After being implicated by genetic testing, Ridgway pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 48 consecutive life sentences. 

There have been many other cases where DNA evidence has played a key role through the years. In July 2001, a Milwaukee, Wisconsin appeals court judge upheld the validity of a criminal warrant for the arrest of “John Doe 12,” issued for a 1994 rape case just days before the statute of limitations was to expire. This was the first known case in which prosecutors sought arrest warrants based solely on a DNA description. When a DNA evaluation matched the DNA of “John Doe 12” with that of Bobby Richard Dabney Jr., the state replaced the placeholder name with Dabney’s, a post on law.jrank.org says.

Today, the use of DNA testing and evidence in the legal system is widespread. There are laws governing when DNA can be taken, why DNA can be taken, how DNA information can be kept, and what the qualifications are for labs that handle it, which vary from state to state. Your rights as a victim of a crime or as a person who has been accused of a crime vary a great deal depending on what state you are in. In many states, law enforcement is authorized to collect DNA upon arrest, but which crimes qualify are very different from state to state. In some states, a probable cause hearing is required first, but in others it is not. 

How exactly DNA is collected, what qualifies as types of samples, and the basis of analyzing it are also interesting. But that’s a story for another day.

DOJ, DHS Raise Cyberattack Reporting Requirements For Critical Infrastructure Sectors

Posted on by kmurali@biometrica.com

By a Biometrica staffer

The federal government is systematically clamping down on lax cyberattack reporting by critical infrastructure companies in the private sector by tightening the standards that govern when they have to report to federal authorities that they have been the subject of a cyberattack or threat. This is part of ongoing efforts this month, which has been deemed “Cybersecurity Awareness Month.”

On Wednesday, Oct. 6, Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco announced the launch of a Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative, designed to leverage the Justice Department’s (DOJ) experience in civil fraud and cybersecurity to “pursue” companies serving as government contractors and receiving federal funds for failing to meet cybersecurity standards befitting sensitive and critical sectors and for choosing to not report any potential breach. This is part of the May directive from Deputy AG Monaco for a comprehensive cyber review of the DOJ.

The Deputy AG also announced the establishment of a National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET) that will handle investigations into and prosecutions of “criminal misuses of cryptocurrency,” particularly those involving virtual currency exchanges, mixing and tumbling services, and money laundering organizations or individuals. The NCET will also help, as much as possible, in the recovery of assets stolen during the course of a fraud or extortion scheme, including cryptocurrency ransoms paid during cyberattacks.

Separately, the Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will be implementing new requirements for the railroad and airline sectors, including measures designed to “[chip] away at voluntary cybersecurity incident reporting,” and setting a new cybersecurity “baseline” that will cover more companies in these industries. In addition to stricter reporting mandates, companies will need to have a designated cybersecurity point of contact, and a comprehensive contingency and recovery plan in the case they are targeted by cybercriminals.

The Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative will be led by the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section. The aim is to use the False Claims Act (FCA) to target these federal contractors. The FCA was enacted in 1863 after widespread defense contractor fraud noted during the Civil War, and says that anyone who has knowingly submitted false claims to the federal government is subject to certain damages and fines. The DOJ says that in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2020, it had collected over $2.2 billion  in settlements and judgments from civil cases involving fraud and false claims against the government.

Targets include companies that knowingly do not provide adequate security for U.S. information or systems, as well as those who knowingly misrepresent their cybersecurity practices or protocols and who knowingly do not comply with government requirements to report any breach. Under the new initiative, the DOJ says it will also protect any whistleblowers who come forward with information regarding cybersecurity breaches and false practices by these companies.

There has been a widely reported spike in the number of cyberattacks targeting the U.S., specifically in critical infrastructure sectors like healthcare, oil and gas, energy, water, and education. This phenomenon has been described as a threat to national security by some of the top figures in President Joe Biden’s administration, including the president himself. The TSA issued a directive to energy pipeline companies following a cyberattack in May that pushed offline the Colonial Pipeline, the largest energy supplier in the U.S. that is responsible for much of the energy supplied to the eastern seaboard. 

The government has been hamstrung in the past by being unable to police the private sector when it comes to handling and responding to cyberthreats and attacks. It has been able to little more than urge companies to report breaches, even as ransomware gangs have threatened dire consequences if victims do contact authorities.

Last month, the Biden administration announced sanctions against SUEX OTC, a Russia-based virtual currency brokerage that allegedly “helped at least eight ransomware gangs launder virtual currency,” to the tune of more than $370 million, with over 40% of its known transactions involving “illicit actors.”

There Are 160 Million Child Laborers Globally, Report Finds

Posted on by kmurali@biometrica.com

By a Biometrica staffer

At the end of September, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released its 20th annual “Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor” report, which analyzed the state of child labor in 131 countries and territories between January and December 2020. The report concluded that globally, 233 million children working, out of which 160 million are classified as “child labor” and 79 million were involved in hazardous child labor.

The report covers situations like children below the respective minimum age working, as well as hazardous unpaid household service; slavery or similar practices; the sale or trafficking of children; children trapped in circumstances of debt bondage and serfdom; forced or compulsory labor; recruiting children for armed conflict or prostitution; coercing them into illicit activities like drug trafficking; and involving them in any way in the creation of child sexual abuse material.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor’s “Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor” report

Child labor rights in the U.S. are governed by the the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938. These set requirements such as a minimum age below which children cannot work (usually 14 years old for most forms of employment), the number of days and hours that they can work, and the types of tasks they can perform. Many states also have mandatory school attendance laws, and the network of caretakers, mentors, teachers, and other adults in a child’s life usually serve as an informal monitoring mechanism to make sure that children are being allowed to grow up and go to school as is appropriate.

Per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2020, there were 4.7 million teens aged 16–19 in the U.S. workforce. That fiscal year, the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) recorded child labor violations in more than 850 investigations. Further, in those investigations where child labor was found, 3,395 minors were found to be working in violation of the FLSA, with 633 minors in 266 cases were found to be working in hazardous occupations.

There has been a number of reports recently about child labor violations across the country. Last week, for instance, the DOL fined three different ice rinks in New Hampshire nearly $43,000 after they were found to be in violation of the FLSA, employing minors under the age of 14 and/or allowing them to work more than the maximum hours allowed.

Per the WHD, the most common FLA violations it found were 14- and 15-year-olds working more than the set hour limit in non-agricultural industries, and the failure of employers to comply with the rules governing hazardous occupations in the cases of 16- and 17-year-olds. In addition, the DOL levied over $3.5 million in civil penalties for child labor in 2020.

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA), which is responsible for inspecting workplaces for violations and following up on complaints, had fewer employees in 2011 than in 1981, per one source, despite the fact that the number of workplaces pretty much doubled over the same period. In addition, the department’s budget also suffered last decade. OSHA is also responsible for tracking child labor violations.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor’s “Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor” report

The researchers behind the DOL report analyzed, in particular, the effect of Covid-19 on children’s rights, as has been covered in the news and by various governmental agencies lately. The DOL report singles out one mitigating factor being the economic downturn due to a fall in consumer demand and a change in patterns as a result of lockdowns and social distancing protocols, as well as supply chain crunches.

As businesses were forced to lay off staff or suspend operations altogether, unemployment spiked, in turn lowering standards of living and spurring on poverty rates. A record number of children were also left without their primary caregivers due to the virus’ death toll, as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the UN’s World Health Organization, and the World Bank in July.

Already, there were warning signs before the pandemic that were likely only exacerbated in 2020. For one, the  International Labour Organization (ILO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) highlighted that the number of children forced into labor worldwide increased for the first time in twenty years in 2019. They also added that if the correct remedial actions are not taken, there could be an additional 9 million children forced into labor by 2022, or 46 million more in the worst-case scenario.

The dual effect of the pandemic on child labor is that, on one hand, many children were made very well aware that their families were in a precarious financial situation, and were made to feel compelled to work. On the other hand, “unscrupulous employers” in the informal sectors of many countries likely took advantage of school closures and lax monitoring of children’s activities to entice children into unregulated and probably unsafe jobs.

The DOL report put forth an extensive set of policy recommendations for individual countries on how to successfully eliminate child labor practices. These include:

  • Criminally prohibiting the recruitment of children under age 18 by non-state armed groups
  • Legally establishing and enforcing the types of hazardous work prohibited for children under 18
  • Increasing the number of labor inspectors employed by the government
  • Making public the criminal law enforcement data around these cases
  • Spreading awareness to the general populace on activities taken to implement anti-child-labor policies
  • Crafting and implementing programs that address barriers to education

In addition to issuing the report, the DOL also launched the web-based Better Trade Tool, which combined the  List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor with international trade data. These databases are meant to  “raise public awareness about forced labor and child labor around the world and to promote efforts to combat them.” It also updated its “Sweat & Toil” and “Comply Chain” smartphone apps, which provide similar sort of information to suppliers and consumers alike.

2021 marks the United Nations’ “International Year for the Elimination of Child Labor,” making it a key priority for global administrations.

You can find the list of goods produced by child or forced labor, across the globe, here.

National Domestic Violence Awareness Month Kicks Off With Over $476M In Office On Violence Against Women Grants

Posted on by kmurali@biometrica.com

By a Biometrica staffer

October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month and the Department of Justice (DOJ) is kicking that off by announcing more than $476 million in Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) grants, it said in a statement on Tuesday, Oct. 5.

The funding will go towards supporting projects that meaningfully address the needs of underserved and marginalized survivors, improve access to justice, enhance survivor safety, hold accountable those who have caused harm, and provide training and technical assistance to an array of professionals and systems working to address sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking in every state and territory, as well as in dozens of tribal communities.

“Domestic Violence Awareness Month is a sobering reminder of the harm domestic violence inflicts across our country, at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic means that for many survivors, abuse may be compounded by being isolated with an abuser, loss of income and stress over the virus itself,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco.

Grant funding aside, the department is combatting domestic and sexual violence in local and tribal communities on other fronts. In May, the DOJ outlined a comprehensive strategy to address violent crime, which asked U.S. Attorneys to evaluate the current drivers of violent crime in their regions, including domestic violence, and to develop strategies to address these drivers.

OVW’s announcement on the grant funding is a key part of that strategy. In addition, on Sept. 20, the department’s Office of Justice Programs announced more than $1.2 billion in Fiscal Year 2021 Victims of Crime Act funding.

While testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), Monaco urged Congress to not just reauthorize it but also strengthen it. VAWA was originally passed in 1994 and reauthorized by Congress in 2000, 2005, and 2013 — each time with bipartisan support. Although substantial progress has been made over the years, the need for VAWA’s programs and protections is as critical as ever, Monaco said in her testimony.

In his Domestic Violence Awareness Month proclamation, President Joseph R. Biden, the original author of the VAWA, called on all Americans to reaffirm their commitment to ending this violence and, in his fiscal year 2022 budget, proposed a historic $1 billion for grant programs administered by OVW.

“For too long, domestic violence was considered a “family issue” and was left for families to address in private. That is why, decades ago, I created and pushed for the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) to be passed,” Biden’s proclamation said. “Domestic violence affects millions of people in the United States, causes significant harm to the physical and mental health of survivors and their families, undermines their economic stability and overall well-being, and is a stain on the conscience of our country.  While significant progress has been made in reducing domestic violence and improving services and support for survivors, much work remains to be done to expand prevention efforts and provide greater access to safety and healing,” he added.

Both Biden’s proclamation and Monaco’s testimony also alluded to various statistics that show why VAWA matters, including:

  • One in four women and one in 10 men have experienced sexual violence, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner during their lifetime
  • Homicide is one of the leading causes of death in the United States for women under the age of 44, and nearly half are killed by a current or former male intimate partner
  • In the early 1990s, i.e., around the time that VAWA was originally passed, 98% of rape victims never saw their attacker caught, tried, and imprisoned. That meant almost all perpetrators of rape walked free. Fewer than half of people arrested for rape were convicted, and almost half of convicted rapists could expect to serve a year or less in jail

“The tragic murder of Gabby Petito has been at the forefront of many people’s minds. I am struck by two critical lessons we should take away from the publicly-reported information, not just in this case but in the thousands of other cases that don’t receive public attention. First is the importance of the bystander’s 911 call, which prompted law enforcement to respond to reports of violence between Ms. Petito and her boyfriend. The second, as we learned from watching the public video footage of interviews conducted by those officers, is the vital importance of having trained law enforcement who understand the dynamics of domestic violence when responding to such incidents,” Monaco said in her testimony.

But Petito is not alone, she reminded, adding that there are more than 89,000 missing person cases in this country, and roughly 45% of them involve people of color, including too many missing and murdered indigenous persons. Gender-based violence is too often a precursor to these cases.

Down The Sports Betting Lane: The History Of A Rapidly Growing Form Of Gambling

Posted on by kmurali@biometrica.com

By a Biometrica staffer

In what bodes well for the industry, two-thirds of American adults view gaming as a positive economic contributor that provides high-quality jobs and 73% support legalized sports betting in their state, new research by the American Gaming Association (AGA) shows. Americans also believe that the legal gambling and betting industry goes beyond generating economic value for the public — nearly seven in 10 Americans believe the gaming industry behaves responsibly and a majority (57%) believe it gives back in the communities where it operates, the AGA’s research added.

One of the key chapters in the history of gambling, in fact, is how the American Revolutionary War was partly funded by taxes on lotteries. In older posts, Biometrica has already traced the oscillating history of gambling in the United States and, cutting to present times, written about how widespread legalized betting is becoming, and how the National Football League (NFL) season is already whetting that appetite this year. Sports betting, like all kinds of gambling, has also had a rather tense history.

In today’s piece, the first of a two-part series, we take a quick trip down the sports betting memory lane, making stops at the Revolutionary War, horse racing, and the growth in all manner of gambling that further advanced sports betting, such as the slot machine and card rooms. In the second part of this mini series, we will cover the other crucial aspects in the evolution of sports betting: how tourism led to its legalization, the laws that were passed to rescue it from the grips of organized crime groups, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 and its repeal, and the march of sports betting into the online era.

Of Wars, Horses, Slots And Perceptions

The word gambling is said to have been derived from the Middle English word gamen — “to amuse oneself” — according to an article published in 1992 by Ronald J. Rychlak, a University of Mississippi professor of law. It’s said that for as long as people have been playing sports, there have been others betting on them. Various games
of chance are said to have existed among ancient Egyptians, Chinese, Japanese, Hebrews, Greeks, Romans, and early Germanic Tribes. Some authorities have even gone as far as suggesting that artifacts dating from the Stone Age were used for gambling, Professor Rychlak’s article says.

Back in those days, it may have been something as simple as a casual pool between friends who were betting on a game being played by other friends. Even the Olympic Games — which, of course, was exponentially larger than a game between friends — is said to have had people in the audience betting with each other on outcomes. That would make it, perhaps, one of the most widespread historic forms of sports betting. Even today, the appetite behind the bets and the reasons remain largely the same as in the olden days: it’s fun, and there’s a chance you could win some money. Many, if not most, people bet for similar reasons even today and could be called “recreational bettors.” Of course, there are serious bettors who do so with the intention of making long-term profits, too.

On the other hand, through the course of history, governments too have tended to be torn between a desire to tap gambling’s enormous revenue potential, and fear over the associated social ills that come with it. As a result, the gambling industry has oscillated between periods of governmental promotion and sponsorship, to ones of complete prohibition. But when the gambling industry did have the government’s support, it has been put to a lot of good use. Sample these two separate paragraphs from Professor Rychlak’s article:

“Two hundred years ago, government-sanctioned lotteries were
common throughout America. Lacking a strong central government
and burdened with a weak tax base, early Americans viewed lotteries
as legitimate vehicles for raising revenue. Lottery proceeds were
used to build cities, establish universities, and even to help finance
the Revolutionary War.”

“Between 1746 and the Civil War, American lotteries were authorized for such projects as the establishment or improvement of Harvard, Yale, Kings College (Columbia University), Princeton, Rutgers, Dartmouth, Rhode Island College (Brown University), the University of Pennsylvania, the University of North Carolina, and the University of Michigan, the benefit of the Masons, the fortification of New York City and Philadelphia, the construction of roads, hospitals, lighthouses and jails, the promotion of literature, the improvement of navigation on rivers, the development of industry, and even the construction of churches.”

Another ancient sport that has close ties to sports betting is horse racing. For the most part, horse racing has remained legal across the United States, per an article by Sports Handle. At Biometrica, too, we’ve written about the long-standing, storied relationship between horse racing and wagering. Horse racing is one of the few forms of entertainment whose inception and endurance is directly linked to betting on the outcome of bouts. And today, it is a multi-billion dollar industry that generates revenues for private enterprises and public entities alike.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, all forms of gambling appeared to be picking up steam. In the late 1800s, formalized betting was introduced to horse races as another draw for spectators. Most of the early crowds in this era were from the middle and lower classes, mainly people looking for a quick way to make money. Cardrooms had begun to open, and the slot machine made its debut just before the turn of the century. By the end of the 1800s, slot machines that actually paid patrons in coins came into existence. Betting on boxing was not legal at that point in time, but nor was it illegal, per the Sports Handle article.

However, even as advancements were being made on sports betting and gambling in that era, challenges arose in the form of scandals, fraud, and concerns over social ills. In the wake of these challenges, though, sports betting fell into a cycle, according to Sports Handle: It would start with a rise in anti-gambling sentiment, then lead to an increase in illegal betting, anti-gambling legislation that would drive it further underground, followed by the belief that outright prohibition is impossible, and finally a general acceptance of sports betting by the public.

How did sports betting evolve, then, from the scandals that marred the late 19th and early 20th centuries into today where, in under three years of a key law that banned it being struck down, it is already legally operational in 27 states and D.C. (and is legal but not yet operational in five other states)? That’s a story we will cover in part two of this mini series on the history and evolution of sports betting in the United States.

How Truckers Might Be Uniquely Positioned To Help Law Enforcement Fight Human Trafficking

Posted on by kmurali@biometrica.com

By a Biometrica staffer

Early in 2015, Kevin Kimmel, a driver with Con-way Truckload, pulled into a truck stop in Virginia, hoping to catch some shut-eye. He happened to glance over at an RV and saw a “distraught-looking young girl” in the window. As he watched, a man approached the RV and went inside. Kimmel, trusting his gut, called it into the police.

When they arrived, law enforcement found the girl — a severely malnourished 20-year-old — who had been kidnapped two weeks earlier from Iowa by a couple who had physically and sexually abused her, and then forced her into prostitution. The couple were charged with sex trafficking and the girl was recovered.

Kevin’s is just one of countless stories in recent years that showcases the potential and the impact that commercial drivers can have in combating human trafficking — an idea that has been gaining recognition.

Human trafficking is widely considered to be a form of slavery, where people — mostly but not exclusively young girls and women — are traded like commodities for various purposes like manual labor, “working” as household servants, or being forced into commercial sex work. Per the International Labor Organisation, the “industry” makes around $150 billion a year for criminals, and it is estimated that there are more than 40 million people worldwide who are victims of human trafficking.

In the U.S. alone, the number of victims is thought to be in the hundreds of thousands, with human trafficking having been reported in all 50 states. It is, without a doubt, one of the most prescient and persistent problems that law enforcement and governments face today.

It is against this backdrop that Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT) was established in December 2007. This Colorado-based non-profit works to train all truckers across the country in how to recognize the signs of human trafficking and how to respond in a way that will best help the victims and law enforcement. The organization trains truckers and works with various state agencies and industry partners to widen their reach.

As part of the training, TAT counsels truckers to report suspicions of trafficking to the anonymous National Human Trafficking Hotline (NHTH), which operates 24×7 and can connect the caller to local law enforcement. The NHTH also provides services and resources for victims.

TAT says that as of 2020, it has trained over a million personnel in the trucking industry, ranging from truck drivers to convenience store cashiers and gas station attendants. The group reports that over 2,500 calls have been made by self-identified truckers to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, as compared to a reported three before 2007. They also say that truckers have reported a total of 708 cases of potential human trafficking, with potentially as many as 1,300 victims. Per the NHTH, of the cases reported to them by truckers over the last five years, over 41% involve victims that are minors.

Truckers are, in some ways, ideal candidates for spotting potential human trafficking, according to a variety of experts, for a multitude of reasons. For one, “no one spends more time on the road than truck drivers,” as one source puts it. TAT calls truck drivers the “eyes and ears” of the nation’s highways, which is particularly crucial as trafficking most frequently occurs at truck stops and other such areas. This usually takes one of two forms: commercial sex (which is coerced) or though the massage parlors located at many truck stops, which also double up as sex trafficking organizations. 

Traffickers successfully dodge the law by moving victims from location to location, which, of course, often employs the highways. Truckers — especially long-haul ones — are, thus, best suited to spotting these criminals and victims as they too move from location to location. These two groups of people intersect most frequently at convenience stores, rest areas, hotels, motels, and truck stops along the interstate. 

In addition, truckers are also likely to be some of the only people awake late at night, when human smugglers may be using darkness to shield their crimes. Truck stops are also typically secluded from public view and are characterized by transience, making them better suited to crimes like trafficking, as people are able to slip under the radar. 

Per a Census Bureau report from 2019, “more than 3.5 million people work as truck drivers,” making it “one of the largest occupations in the United States.” This could potentially mean millions of extra pairs of eyes trained on the activities of traffickers. In fact, some say, there are more truckers on the road at any given time than law enforcement.

Experts have put forth several tips on how to recognize trafficking situations and how to respond:

  • Keep an eye out for weather-inappropriate clothing on young women or men, particularly if they are accompanied by someone who is dressed properly for the weather
  • Notice anyone looking uncomfortable, out of place, or confused, or anyone who is loitering or lingering by truck stops
  • Keep an eye out for young men or women frequently climbing in and out of vehicles
  • Be aware of anyone waiting to be picked up, especially if they look reluctant to go with the person who does arrive to pick them up
  • Listen to conversation on the Citizens Band (CB) radio, the short distance radio used by truckers. Note popular codewords for commercial sex work such as “lot lizard” or “Commercial Company.” Of course, listen for anyone overtly or covertly describing a particular child, rates, or sex acts they are looking for
  • If you are suspicious that someone is being trafficked, gather as much information as possible without approaching, such as physical descriptions, distinctive characteristics, and vehicle information
  • Be aware if you approach the victim, they may not be willing or ready to accept their status as a trafficked person
  • Do not confront the suspected trafficker, and do not aggressively intervene
  • Call the hotline or the local authorities to report the behavior, no matter how minor you may think the signs are

Currently, there is no federal law currently that mandates those in commercial driving schools learn to spot signs of human trafficking, though that suggestion does have a significant number of advocates. Around a dozen states, however, do use TAT material in their training for commercial drivers seeking licenses. These include Ohio, Arkansas, Washington, Kansas, and Texas, the last of which is among the four biggest trafficking states in the country (alongside California, Nevada and New York).

Some specialized colleges like the Southern Regional Technical College have also partnered with TAT to incorporate their free educational material into curricula. They require their students to learn how to spot signs of human trafficking alongisde crucial lessons on how to operate the trucks in a safe manner. 

Currently, there has been widespread reporting about an acute shortage of commercial truck drivers in the U.S, as a result of Covid-19 supply-chain restrictions and as many drivers age out of the profession. This has spurred a concerted recruitment effort, which might be the perfect time to implement, more broadly, TAT’s training in the license requirements.

Just by recognizing the signs and being vigilant, one trucker could make a huge difference in a victim’s life, and save them from a truly torotour situation. Truckers who have been trained by TAT frequently lament that they had, many times, seen people who might have been victims, but thought they were voluntarily engaging in prostitution, rather than being trafficked.

It is clear that human trafficking is not a problem that law enforcement or the criminal justice system can tackle on its own. The efforts to combat such criminals relies on the public to help where and how they can — by staying alert and reporting any suspicious behavior. 

As TAT’s Executive Director and co-founder Kendis Paris puts it, “As the eyes and ears of our nation’s highways, drivers are in a unique position to make a difference and close loopholes to traffickers who seek to exploit our transportation system for their personal gain.”

Anyone wanting to report potential trafficking or victims in need of help can call 911 for emergencies or the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 888-373-7888.

In addition, Truckers Against Trafficking can be contacted for help or getting certified at 612-888-2050.